(THE TIMES OF ISRAEL) “Yaakov was a quiet person,” Adina Levitan says. “But if something needed to be done – he was there. You didn’t have to worry. He would make sure everything worked.”
On the first night of Chanukah, December 14, 2025, Yaakov Levitan did what he had always done. He showed up early.
At Bondi Beach in Sydney, under the warm glow of summer, preparations were underway for “Chanukah on the Beach” – a community celebration meant to bring light into the darkness. As Chief Operating Officer of Chabad Bondi, Yaakov was at the centre of it all. Logistics, setup, coordination – if something needed to happen, it ran through him.
He was 39 years old. A husband. A father of four. A builder of community.
That night, he was also one of 15 people murdered in what became the deadliest antisemitic attack in Australia’s history.
comments